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REPORT. 



At a meeting of citizens of the District, and members of Con- 
gress, invited to confer together on the subject of establishing a 
Society for the Education of Persons of Colour, for influence and 
usefulness in Africa, on the 28th of December, 1829; the object 
of the meeting having been stated by the Rev. Mr. Gurleyj on 
motion of Rev. Dr. Laurie, Gen. Walter Jones was called to 
the Chair, and Mr. Gurley appointed Secretary. 

After the exchange of opinions in regard to the subject pro- 
posed for consideration, on motion by Mr. Gurley, it was 

Resolvedf That it is expedient to form, and that we do hereby form, a 
Society, to prepare, by a suitable education, young persons of colour for 
usefulness in Africa. 

The Society then went into committee of the whole, Rev. Mr. 
Hawley in the Chair, to consider and decide on a Constitution; 
and after considerable discussion, and many amendments, the 
following was proposed to the Society, and finally adopted: 

CONSTITUTION. 

I. This Society shall be called the African Education Society 
of the United States. 

II. The exclusive object of this Society shall be, to afford to 
persons of colour destined to Africa, such an education, in Let- 
ters, Agriculture, and the Mechanic Arts, as may best qualify 
them for usefulness and influence in Africa. 

III. Every individual who shall annually contribute one dollar 
to the Society, shall be a memberj and a contribution, at any one 
time, of twenty dollars shall constitute life membership. 

IV. The officers of this Society shall be, a President, one or 
more Vice Presidents, a Secretary, a Treasurer, a Recorder, and 
a Board of Managers, composed of the abovementioned officers 
and twelve other members of the Society, to be elected at the 
annual meeting: any five of whom shall constitute a quorum. 



4 

V. The Annual Meeting of this Society shall be on the last 
Monday in December. 

VI. The Board of Managers shall conduct the business of the 
Society, and take such measures as they may think proper, or as 
shall be directed by the Society, to effect its objects; shall con- 
vene at such times as they may deem expedient, or when request- 
ed by the President or any three members; shall report annu- 
ally to the Society; and shall have power to fill up, from time to 
time, all vacancies that may happen in their own body, or in any 
of the offices of the Society. 

VII. The Vice Presidents, according to seniority, or other- 
wise one of the Managers, shall perform the duties of the Presi- 
dent in case of his absence. 

VIII. The Secretary shall take minutes of the proceedings, 
prepare and publish notices, and perform such other duties as the 
Board or Society shall direct. The Recorder shall aid the Sec- 
retary when occasion requires. 

IX. The Treasurer shall receive and take charge of the funds 
of the Society, keep the accounts, and discharge such other simi- 
lar duties as may be required by the Board of Managers. 

X. Every Society that shall be formed auxiliary to the parent 
institution, shall be entitled to attend and vote by delegation at 
all meetings of the Society. 

XI. This Constitution shall be unalterable, except at the an- 
nual meetings of the Society, and by a majority of two-thirds of 
the members present. 

On motion, it was 

Resolvedy That a committee be appointed to nominate a list of Officers 
for this Society. The following list was finally adopted; 

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY. 

President. 
Rt. Rev. William Meade, of Virginia. 

Vice Presidents. 
Gen. Walter Jones, of Washington, 
Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, 
Francis S. Key, Esq. of Georgetown, D. C. 
Hon. Judge McLean, of Ohio, 
Rev. Eliphalet No IT, D. D. of New York, 
Gkrri T Smith, Esq. of New York, 



Gen. C. F. Mercer, of Virginia, 
Rev. John H. Rice, D. D. of Virginia^ 
Rt. Rev. Bishop Griswold, of R. I. 
William Maxwell, Esq. of Virginia, 
Rev. Nathan Lord, D. D. of N. H. 
William H. Fitzhugh, Esq. of Virginia, 
Rev. James Milnor, D. D. of New York,. 
Rev. Dr. Lindsley, of Tennessee, 
Elliott Cresson, Esq. of Philadelphia, 
Rev. William Winans, of Missi. 
Rev. Heman Humphrey, D. D. of Mass. 
Arthur Tappan, Esq. of New York, 
Rev. Charles P. McIlvaine, of New York^ 
Secretary — Isaac Orr, of Washington. 
Treasurer — Richard Smith, Esq. of Washington^ 
Recorder — John Kennedy, Esq. of Washington. 

Managers. 
Rev. William Hawley, of Washington, 
William Williamson, Esq. of Georgetown, D. 
Rev. John N. Campbell, of W^ashington, 
Rev* James McVean, of Georgetown, D. C» 
B. L. Lear, Esq. of Washington, 
Rev. Walter Colton, of Washington, 
Rev. R. R. Gurley, of Washington, 
Michael Nourse, Esq. of Washington, 
William G. Ridgley, Esq. of Georgetown, D. 
John Coyle, Jr. Esq. of Washington, 
Rev. J. N. Danforth, of Washington, 
Rev. Thomas Brooke, of Georgetown, D, C> 



ADDRESS. 

At a time when objects of benevolence, so many and so greaty 
press upon public attention, and call loudly for public patron- 
agei and when the eye of jealousy is to a considerable extent 
threatening hostility to general associations for the accomplish- 
ment of some of these great and godlike purposes; it would ill 
become the Members and Managers of the African Education 
Society, to commence their arduous enterprise, and to solicit the 
public favor and public support, without being able to offer an 
unequivocal and ample apology. 

We feel great reluctance to give offence or alarm, by associa- 
ting together, to any of the sincere friends of our common coun- 
try. But the object we have in view is one, as we believe, 
and as we trust it will appear, which it would be hard-hearted 
to neglect, and cruel to hinderi and we cannot conceive how it 
is possible that it should be attained by insulated individual ef- 
fort. All History does not furnish the shadow of a warrant for 
the slightest hope of such an achievement. 

Since the commencement of the enterprise, in 1817, which 
was to open an outlet for the unfortunate population, who had 
been torn from their homes by the hand of violence, and entailed 
upon us by the mistaken policy of the mother country; and which 
was not only to restore to Africa her lost children, but to quench 
the flames ofwar, and dry up the streams of devastation, and foun- 
tains of blood, in that persecuted and ill-fated country; and to con- 
fer upon it the blessings of peace, and refinement, and religion, 
and liberty, the friends of that great design have been continually 
and deeply impressed with the importance of preparing the destin- 
ed emigrants, by a suitable training, for prosperity and usefulness 
in Africa. They reasoned, and reasoned rightly, that if without 
such preparation they were wholly unfit, as is universally admit- 
ted, for freedom, and for the lowest employments, in this coun- 
try, much more were they unfit to stem the tide of barbarism, to 
exercise the difficult and hardly tenable functions of self-govern- 
ment, to become the leaders, teachers, and rulers of barbarous 
people, the enlightened citizens, the wise founders and support- 



crs, of the rising nations of Africa. Hence Tarious attempts have 
been made, from time to time, to devise and execute plans for 
the attainment of this highly important and desirable object: and 
the association, who by their constitution were not empowered 
to turn their efforts in that direction, and to whom the entire in- 
terests of Africa, here, have hitherto been entrusted, have hailed 
those attempts with their warmest approbation, and their best 
wishes that they might prove successful. It is well known, that 
the active and powerful mind of General Harper, was much 
exercised on this subject during his life, and that he made 
some partial attempts to carry his views into execution. There 
is reason to believe, from the resolution and energy of his char- 
acter that death alone prevented him from pursuing, to ultimate 
success, an object to which he was so warmly and sincerely de- 
voted. 

An Institution was commenced some years ago, for the pur- 
pose of African education, at Newark, in New Jersey. Owing, 
however, to the want of sufficient support or perhaps still more 
to the lack of suitable subjects of education, its success has not 
heretofore been so great as its friends had reason to expect and 
desire, and as the exigencies of the cause most imperiously de- 
manded. A Society has also been formed at Hartford, in Con- 
necticut, devoted exclusively to the higher stages of African 
education. Its operations, up to the present time, have been ex- 
ceedingly limited I not for the want of interest, or the want of 
funds; but for the almost total destitution of suitable subjects. 
Colored persons on the advanced stage of education, which they 
require for admission, can rarely be found. 

With these institutions it is not our design or desire to inter- 
fere at all: but to co-operate with them, and to render them 
every assistance within our power. The Hartford Institution, 
especially, we hope ere long to supply with youth prepared to 
enter it: and thus to remove the only apparent obstacle to its 
complete prosperity: and should that at Newark assume the 
same character, we hope to aflford it also the same facilities. 

It is our belief that eflforts have heretofore been too partial 
and local in their character; and to this circumstance alone can 
we attribute the want of success. A common interest has not 
been felt: general concert in action has not been attained: the 



8 

one soul of the benevolent community has not been awakened. 
It is our hope and desire to excite all the interest and energies 
of the country, which can possibly be directed towards the at- 
tainment of the great and interesting object which we have in 
view: to gather information and influence from every possible 
source: to combine and concentrate their power: to present them 
to the public eye, and to bring them to act upon the public feel- 
ing: and especially, by a steady advancement, as fast as the 
means will allow, towards the object proposed, to evince the in- 
valuable benefits of the undertaking, and thus afford the best 
possible reward for its support, and the highest encouragement 
for more extensive and more ardent effort. 

It is the design of the Society, not, in the manner of a day 
school, to take charge of the youth entrusted to them, for a few 
hours daily, and then dismiss them to dissipate, among idle and 
vicious companions, the slight impressions made upon them, and 
thus to blast, every night and morning, the germs of sober and 
industrious habitsi but to train them up entirely, as far as prac- 
ticable, from early childhood^ to make constant and untiring in- 
roads on their wrong habits and propensities^ to subject them to 
a steady, mild and salutary discipline^ to exercise towards them 
a kind and parental care, guarding against the approach of every 
insidious and hurtful infiuencei to give them an intimate practi- 
cal acquaintance with agriculture, or some one of the mechanic 
arts, most likely to be useful in Africa; to instruct them tho- 
roughly in all the branches of a common school educationi to 
endow them with industrious, active and manly habits; and to 
inspire them with virtuous, generous and honorable sentiments: 
in fine, to form their whole character, and render it, as far as 
possible, such as will qualify them to become pioneers in the re- 
novation of Africa. Manual labor will of course ultimately aid 
in the support, and diminish the expense, of the establishment. 
But in its commencement, on account of the necessary prepara- 
tion of implements and materials, it is essential to its success 
that a good deal should be expended. An enlightened, humane 
and liberal community must decide, whether it shall surmount 
the obstacles which stand in its way, and obtain an existence 
real and greatly efficient, among things that are, as well as in 
the designs and hopes of its projectors. 



Every precaution will be taken to avoid the hindrance or dis- 
couragement of day schools for Africans in the States where all 
are free. It is perceived that they also are tending to the same 
great object, though in a less ready, and less effectual manner. 
What if the colored people in these states are now prejudiced 
against emigration to Africa? Enlightening and enlarging their 
minds, and correcting and quickening their moral faculties, 
will remove those prejudices^ will help them to discern, and 
lead them to promote their own best interests, and to bear across 
the Atlantic the means of freedom, prosperity and happiness, 
to "their kindred according to the flesh." 

Special reference will also be had to the condition and wishes 
of the slave States. In most of them it is a prevailing sentiment, 
that it is not safe to furnish slaves with the means of instruction. 
Much as we lament the reasons for this sentiment, and the ap- 
parent necessity of keeping a single fellow creature in ignorance, 
we willingly leave to others the consideration and the remedy of 
this evil, in view of the overwhelming magnitude of the remain- 
ing objects before us. But it is well known that very many mas- 
ters are desirous to liberate their slaves in such a way as to im- 
prove their condition: and we are confident that such masters 
will rejoice to find the means by which those slaves may be edu- 
cated in a situation by themselves, without the danger of exert- 
ing an unfavorable influence around them: and instead of crea- 
ting disquiet in this country, may convey peace and joy to Afri- 
ca. In proof of this opinion, we are gratified to state that a 
gentleman, who is a slave holder, and an officer of this Society, 
has already offered the gratuitous use of a farm, for the accom- 
modation of such an establishment. 

A desire to give "liberty to the captive," has prevailed, and 
does still prevail, to a very great extent, throughout the coun- 
try. It owes its existence both to a sense of justice and to feel- 
ings of humanity. It has been more efficient too, strange as it 
may appear, in the southern than the northern States^ for the re- 
proached South has given liberty to more, in proportion to her 
white population, by the mere influence of this desire, than the 
North has done in consequence of this desire, the most obvious 
self-interest, and the force of law put together. Proof of this 
point requires only a glance at the census, where is sliown the 



10 

comparative number of free colored people, all of whom are ei- 
ther freedmen, or the descendants of freedmen. In the South, 
however, its progress has been arrested before the consummation 
of that great event to which it was most obviously and rapidly 
tending. There was no need of an inquiry, which the North has 
never instituted, whether freedom i/i itself alone, without some 
redeeming concomitant, was a practical blessing to those for 
whom it was as such expressly designed. The fact was most 
glaring, without an inquiry, that the same shackles which bound 
them, fastened them also to the resources of the soil, and the 
interests of the community^ and when these were broken, and 
the incentives of authority removed, the weight of ignorance, the 
want of better incentives, and the fatal and untried power of 
grateful but ruinous idleness, sunk them to a state, which, how- 
ever elevated 271 /Aeor?/, was in fact more degraded and more mi- 
serable than that of bondage. In addition to all this, pauperism, 
with the numerous evils of corrupt and corrupting indolence, 
threatened to impose its sluggish weight upon a groaning commu- 
nity. The common sense of mankind and the genius of Christiani- 
ty equally demanded, that jor«c/zc«/re5w//s should be made the tests 
of justice and humanity. It appeared that nothing could in re- 
ality be less like equitable restoration, than throwing away. 
Hence, the progress of emancipation was, for the time, most 
righteously arrested. Still, without doubt, the same desire, 
once so manifest, yet exists, and even with augmented power: 
and there is every reason to believe, that when present impedi- 
ments shall be removed, and the manumission of the slave will 
improve his condition, it will arise to far more than its former 
activity. The call then is most emphatic to release this heaven- 
born desire from its prison house, and let it again proceed with 
its work of beneficence — a work which by every other instrument 
may be attempted in vain. It is certain that to improve the con- 
dition of liberated slaves, it is necessary to elevate their moral 
and intellectual character. The last hope, then, of the colored 
race, is embraced in the design of this Society. 

Improvement, in the progress from barbarism, is so gradual 
from year to year and from age to age, that its advance, at any 
one moment, like the motion of the sun, is imperceptible. Yet 
by comparison in its different stages, we discern the immense 



11 

disparity between the glimmering dawn and the bright and glo- 
rious meridian. The yeomanry of this country stand up in all 
the consciousness of superiority, and feel as if the high distinc- 
tion with which they are favored, were an attribute of their na- 
ture, or the direct gift of the Deity: forgetful that their own an- 
cestors, but a few ages ago, were in a state of barbarism that 
would have hardly honored an African origin; and that the race 
has emerged from such a condition only by the slow process of 
moral and intellectual improvement. Hence the immense pow- 
er of education is underrated entirely: and the colored race, just 
brought from a savage country, and placed in sight of advanta- 
ges which they cannot enjoy, are regarded, to a great extent, as 
incapable of a similar advancement. This prejudice, founded 
in the first instance on grounds almost wholly gratuitous, and 
contrary to general principles, must soon give way entirely to 
facts, which are already apparent, and which are now in a rapid 
course of further developement. 

The immense advantages of moral and intellectual cultivation, 
become most glaringly obvious by a recurrence to history and 
biography. In almost every instance where communities or in- 
dividuals have stood pre-eminent, they owed their pre-eminence 
chiefly to moral or intellectual improvement. The Chaldeans, 
the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, were no less remarka- 
ble for learning than for power. This may be said with equal 
truth of nearly all the great men of antiquity, and much more 
of those who in modern times have caused the world to feel their 
influence. Intellectual and moral cultivation made Ashmun 
■what he was: and to cause the influence of such men as Ash- 
mun to be felt throughout the African continent, is the aim and 
the hope of this Society. 

There are several reasons, which appear not only weighty, but 
altogether decisive, why such a Society should be located in the 
capital of the country. In addition to the general convenience 
of its central position, it is in a district belonging in common 
to all the States, where none can complain of interference, or 
attach to it the idea. of merely local importance: it affords to all 
parts of the country, through Members of Congress, the means 
of an intimate acquaintance with its character, measures and 
success; by the same means, many important helps may be 



12 

brought to promote its progress: and what is perhaps more than 
all, it can avail itself directly of the best channel of informa- 
tion between this country and Africa. If it were farther north, 
it would not be so easily accessible by slaves that are to be li- 
berated and sent to Africa; and the constitutions of those under 
its care, would not be so well prepared for the attacks of Afri- 
can disease and the dangers of an African climate. If it were 
farther south, it might fail to excite a northern interest^* and by 
exerting an unfavorable influence on slaves, and waking the ap- 
prehensions of their masters, it might even blast its prospects in 
the southern section of the country. 

We appeal, then, with respectful confidence, to the humane 
and merciful throughout our country. We most earnestly so- 
licit their encouragement, co-operation and support. We en- 
treat the Editors of public Journals to bestow on the subject 
their calm and candid attention; to yield it their personal favor 
and influence; and to send forth upon the winds of heaven all 
useful information respecting it. We entreat Ministers of the 
Gospel to bring their consecrated talents to bear in the promo- 
tion of its interests, and in tlie attainment of an object, which 
cannot but be dear to them and their Master. We entreat all 
classes of the community to contribute their aid and exert their 
influence in such ways as to them may appear best and most ef- 
fectual. Considerations the most powerful urge the appeal. By 
all the horrors of the slave trade; by the wrongs and suff*erings 
of Africa, inflicted by the hands of Americans; by her cruel and 
incessant wars which they have excited, and which have desola- 
ted her towns and cities; by the blood of murdered millions; by 
the relics of hundreds of thousands thrown from American ships, 
and strewed upon the bed of the Atlantic — we call upon our 
country, in its individual and collective capacity, to make a 
voluntary, though wholly inadequate retribution to those whom 
they have injured, and to perform an act of justice, of duty, and 
of mercy, to the people of Africa. 



JResolutions of the Board. 

JResolved, That the funds of this Society shall be chiefly appropriated to 
the education of slaves, placed at their disposal by their masters, on the 
condition, after their education and liberation, of their emigrating to Africa. 



13 

Resolvcdy That pledges, with Buitable indemnities, shall be given, as far 
as practicable, by the pupils, their masters, parents or guardians, that they 
will go to Africa when their education shall be completed. 

Extract of a Letter to a Gentleman in Virginia. 

The Managers of the African Education Society tender to you their grate- 
ful acknowledgments for the substantial proof of your favor, which has 
been received, and for the implicit confidence which you have kindly ex- 
pressed in the justness of their views and the integrity of their motives. 
They regard this confidence as one of the highest proofs of friendship. 
Still they are desirous that even the enemies of the cause, and much more 
those friends who are qualified to act as its wisest advocates and ablest 
defenders, should see clearly and fully the ground upon which it rests; the 
nature and extent of the objections which bear against it, and of the in- 
ducements which urge to its advancement. To such friends, too, they 
look for at least a portion of that light which the difficulty of the subject 
requires, as well as for the influence necessary to give it favour in the 
view of the community. 

The subjects mentioned in your letter had been already discussed and 
settled, as it was supposed, in a satisfactory manner. Your notice of them 
again called them up; but the Board cannot yet discover sufficient reasons 
for changing their views. They are all ardent friends of the Colonization 
Society; but further than this the two Societies are not connected at all. 
It seems difficult, then, to perceive, how the fate of one can be mainly 
dependent on the fate of the other. It may seem as if a new object pro- 
posed with regard to Africa, and a consequent division of interest, might 
diminish the already meager support of the Colonization Society : but /ac^5 
of constant occurrence in this country, go to prove the reverse. Nor can 
this be deemed a subject of wonder, when it is considered that all the 
great objects of charity receive, as yet, but about the average amount of 
five cents a year from each inhabitant of the country. In view, then, of 
the acknowledged liberality of the American people, there can be no suf- 
ficient objection to presenting a greater number of deserving objects be- 
fore them. 

It is true, that prejudices against the new Society, mayy and probably 
will, to some extent, be directed against the Colonization Society. But 
for this there can be no sufficient. reason, for the Societies are wholly dis- 
tinct. Besides, the Colonization Society has, in its infancy, outlived far 
greater opposition than it will ever hereafter be likely to meet with. It 
is doubtless highly desirable that the Education Society should encounter 
its own difficulties, and rest on its own merits: and so far as it can possibly 
be kept from implication with others, it will be done. There is even then 
hardly a doubt that it will surmount, by prudent management, the proba- 
ble opposition which it is destined to meet with. 



14 

In one respect, at least, if it should be successful, it must be eminently 
serviceable to the Colonization Society. It is already obvious, that the 
prosperity of this society must depend, to a very great extent, on the char- 
acter and progress of the colony. It is equally obvious that the success of the 
colony depends entirely on the influence and efforts of well educated men. 
It is the whole business of the Education Society to furnish them: so that 
in return for any indirect and partial injury which it may occasion to the 
Colonization Society, the entire result of its efforts, and weight of its in- 
fluence, will operate directly to advance the interests of that society. 

There are indeed many powerful reasons why the means of educating 
colonists should be expended within the limits of the colony. But it is at 
least questionable, whether colonial institutions could obtain, to so great an 
extent, the patronage of the American public. It is still more questiona- 
ble whether masters would send their young slaves there to be educated. 
But the consideration which seems above all others decisive, is, that color- 
ed instructers suitably qualified, cannot yet be found in sufficient numbers 
for the immediate wants of the colony itself: and to send out white instruc- 
ters, would doubtless incur a greater sacrifice of life than would be warrant- 
ed, at present, by the greater comparative advantages. It must be re- 
membered that no white person has yet continued alive in the colony more 
than six or eight years. The object, if it could not be attained in any 
©ther way, w^ould doubtless justify a far greater sacrifice- But it is believed 
that it can be essentially attained by institutions in this country. The so- 
ciety, however, will render their views on this subject as full and accurate 
as possible, and whenever there are no sufficient objections, their means 
will at once be transferred to Africa. It is believed, however, that this 
cannot be the case, till there shall be a sufficient number of competent co- 
lored instructers. 

The subject of African education, though beyond all dispute immensely 
important, must for some time to come, be to a great extent experimental. 
The free expression of your views respecting it, will at all times be highly 
acceptable, and may be of very great utility. The great object of the So- 
ciety, second only to the best interests of Africa, will be to satisfy, by 
every reasonable method, all the friends of the cause, and all its enemies. 
I remain, with great esteem and respect, 

Your humble servant, 
ISAAC ORR, Sec'ry, Af E. S. 



Demand for JE ducat ed Africans. 

In addition to the well known extent and urgency of this demand, it 
ought to be mentioned, that the London Missionary Society sent to this 
country, some time ago, to procure educated Africans to go to Sierra Le- 
one% Of course their application proved ineffectual. 



15 

Extracts from a Communication from B. L. Lear, Esq. Exccu* 
tor of the toiU of General Kosciusko, to Rev. Amzi Arm.- 
strong, of New Jersey, dated Washington, 9.8th January, 1826. 

[Note. — In 1798 Gen. Kosciusko made a bequest for the liberation and 
education of Africans. In 1821 it amounted to $12,000 j and at the present, 
1830, does not differ much from $25,000. A suit is now pending- in the 
United States Supreme Court, in which the bequest is claimed by Kosci- 
usko's legal heirs and others. The result, it is said, is very doubtful. So far; 
this noble bequest, instead of serving- as an example to excite others to do 
likewise, appears rather to have hindered, or at least delayed, those ef- 
forts for the African people, which circumstances have so urg-ently de- 
manded. It is exceedingly desirable that the reputation of Kosciusko should 
not bear the imputation of having injured the cause to which he manifest- 
ed so sincere and devoted an attachment.] 

One of the principal requisites of the will is, that the slaves shall be 
purchased and set free: but I consider that this would be substantially com- 
plied with, if I can procure them from their "masters upon condition of 
freeing and educating them: and as I have from the first determined that 
I would take none that were not young enough to be exempt from every 
idea of their degradation, and all contamination from their J kindred and 
associations, I suppose that their value as slaves would not be so great as 
to operate strongly with those masters disposed to favor the experiment; 
and that, with many of them, their freedom, support, and education would 
be a sufficiently valuable consideration. 

The intention of the testator undoubtedly was, to make the objects of 
his bounty not only free and happy, but useful to society. In considering 
the kind of education best adapted to this purpose, one of ray favourite 
ideas has been, to instruct the children in agriculture and the mechanic 
arts, in connexion with their literary education, that the mind and body 
may be, one or the other, always active in useful occupation; variety thus 
answering the purpose of amusement: and to apply each mainly to such 
an education as shall be found on experiment to be best adapted to his 
capacity. 

I should think it best to commence the school on a very limited and 
economical plan. Almost every enterprise in this country, which fails of 
success, owes its failure to embarking too incautiously in expenses, be- 
fore the experiment is properly tested. I should think a few acres, with 
perhaps a single building, near some flourishing village, sufficient for the 
experiment. The village would supply mechanics, who might no doubt 
be induced, in such a cause, to give instruction in their arts for a very 
moderate compensation. This plan can easily be enlarged if we find our 
funds sufficient; and in any event, it is always more gratifying to be able to 
extend, than to be oblig-ed to contract, our enterprises. 

Those children whom I would emancipate and educate with this fund, 
I would purchase on the condition, that after receiving their education, 
they should be sent to the Colony in Africa, where they can certainly be 
more useful than any where else, and where, perhaps it is not too great a 



16 

stretch of enthusiasm to suppose, they may be instruments of establishing' 
the fame of their benefactor, upon a foundation more firm and extensive 
than that on which he has already placed it by his valor, his patriotism, 
and his devotion to liberty. Whether the Colonization Society is ulti- 
mately to realize its hopes or not, the Colony, at least, will afford a field 
for eminent usefulness to these youths, who could scarcely be useful at all 
elsewhere; and its best welfare will be promoted^ while it exists, whether 
its existence may be of long- or short duration. 

Local. A gents of the Society. 
The following- gentlemen are authorized, and respectfully requested, to 
act as Agents of the Society, in such ways, and to such an extent, as they 
may deem proper and convenient. 

John Tappan, Esq. Boston; 
• Rev. Nathan Lord, D. D. Hanover, N. H. 

Rev. John Todd, Groton, Mass. 

Rev. Silas Aiken, Amherst, N. H. 

"Wilham Atkinson, Esq. Petersburg, Va. 

Rev. Mr. Cheever, Waterford, N- Y. 

Thomas Hastings, Esq. Utica, N. Y. 

Rev. William Chester, Hudson, N. Y. 

Rev. Mr. Kirk, Albany, N. Y. 

Caleb Day, Esq. Catskill, N. Y. 

Rev- Timothy Alden,D D. Meadville, Pa. 

Phlneas Randall, Esq. Bowman's Creek, N. Y. 

Rev. Mr. Potts, Natchez. 

Rev. Dr. Tyler, Portland, Maine. 

Rev. Dr. Wayland, Providence, R. I. 

Rev. Dr. Cox, New York City. 

Rev. Mr. Patterson, Philadelphia. 

Josiah Bissel, Esq. Rochester, N. Y. 

Shepard R. Kollock, Esq. Norfolk, Va. 

William Crane, Esq. Richmond, Va. 

Rev. Dr. Ducachet, Norfolk, Va. 

Rev. Mr, Baker, Savannah, Geo. 

Rev. Mr. Breckenridge, Baltimore, Md. 

R. T. Rutter, Esq. Baltimore, Md. 

Rev. Mr. Fullerton, Hagerstown, Md. 

B. F. Anderson, Esq. Hagerstown, Md. 

Rev. T. H. Gallaudet, Hartford, Conn. 

Rev. Charles P Mcllvaine, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Thomas C. Perkins, Esq. Hartford, Conn. 

Rev. Leonard Bacon, New Haven, Conn, 

Rev. Mr. Wright, Montpelier, Vermont. 

John Aiken, Esq. Manchester, Vermont. 

Rev. Mr. Pine, Middletown, Conn. 

Rev. William Williams, Salem, Mass. 

Robert Orr, Esq. Topsham, Maine. 

Professor Worcester, xVmherst, Mass. 

Elliott Cresson, Esq. Philadelphia. 

Caleb White, Woodville, N. C. 

Rev. T. P. Hunt, Raleigh, N. C. 

Rev. R. W. James, Bradleysville, S. C. 

Wm. Maxwell, Esq. Norfolk, Va. 



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